Pentagon Awards Pratt $648M Addition to Joint Strike Fighter Contract

The Pentagon awarded Pratt & Whitney an additional $648.8 million for its Joint Strike Fighter engine contract on Monday to cover an extension for the aircraft engine's development and demonstration program, two more flight-test engines and spare parts.

Most of the work for this latest award will be done in Connecticut, the Pentagon said in a news release, though some will be completed in the United Kingdom and Indianapolis, Ind. It's expected to be completed by December 2016.

The F35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter, whose engines are assembled in Middletown, is slated to be the tactical aircraft of choice for three military branches and a handful of the United States' allies, which have placed orders for hundreds of the planes.

Last year, Pratt said it delivered 46 of the F135 engines for the Joint Strike Fighter, with plans to ship 51 in 2013. By 2020, when production for the program is expected to be ratcheted up, Pratt estimates it will deliver closer to 240 of the engines a year.